Maastricht University - Open Journals
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Characteristics of Cartel Ringleaders: An Analysis of EU Commission Decisions
Get PDFThis descriptive research paper provides an overview of the characteristics of identified cartel ringleaders that operated cartels within the EU between 2000 and 2011. By means of a three-level analysis, concerning general cartel information, types of agreement and the adjustment of imposed fines, the conditions under which a ringleader is likely to be present are examined. The findings suggest that size, the enforcement of cartel rules and the allocation of quantities all have an impact on the existence of a ringleader. Furthermore, fines are higher for ringleaders and the leniency notice is applied more often in cases with an identified ringleader
Manipulation of Election Methods
Get PDFMost election methods are subject to manipulation. A group of voters can manipulate an election if by misrepresenting their honest preferences they can secure an outcome they all prefer. We show that when a candidate would win a 1-man-1-vote election with an absolute majority, it is not possible to individually manipulate this election in favour of another candidate. This is because changing only one vote will never change the outcome of the election; hence no individual manipulation will be successful. On the contrary, if a candidate with an absolute majority would win a 1-best-1-worst election, depending on the preferences of the participating voters, it is possible to manipulate. This is proven by giving an example of a manipulable profile with a winner with the absolute majority
Why are people of colour at a higher risk of falsely confessing? Answers from the psychology of prejudice?
No full textAlmost three in four wrongful conviction cases concern defendants of colour – a statistic which seems to be partly explained by the greater number of false confessions cases in this group. Among them, there are five adolescents who spent many years in prison after falsely confessing to a brutal rape in New York’s Central Park. Why were they and why are other people of colour at a higher risk of falsely confessing? To answer this question, I discuss approaches from the psychology of prejudice and their possible relationship to false confessions. Can stereotypes about Black men as criminals increase the pressure on suspects of colour in police interrogation? Do stereotypes make suspects of colour appear more nervous in interrogation? Do White police officers tend to assume the guilt of suspects of another race? Based on evidence from psychological studies, I evaluate in how far each of these approaches explains the overrepresentation of people of colour in false confession cases
Approaches to the Different Levels of Consumer Protection in European Contract law, focusing on Food Safety Regulations
Get PDFIn the area of contract law an important aspect is consumer protection, on the national and European level, which involves cross border elements. Within the European Union Directives and Regulations secure a minimum level of protection for the consumer. These laws are designed to prevent business to gain by fraud or unfair practices; they protect the weaker party, the consumer, from the stronger party, the businesses. In Article 2 (B) of Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts, a consumer is defined as “any natural person who, is acting for purposes which are outside his business, trade or profession.” To achieve the optimal level of consumer protection within the EU, in order for the internal market to work properly; the aim of this paper is to address the following research question: “How to approach the differences in level of Consumer protection, in a civil law country compared to a country under the common law regime?”. In order to be able to outline some of the differences the issue of food safety will be used as a case-study
Income inequality, Redistribution, and Democracy
Get PDFMany economists, and more generally institutions are concerned with the development of poor countries. Not only poverty, but also income inequality can have perverse consequences on the economic, political, and social stability of a country. In order to get more insight into this topic the main research question was: How is income inequality determined by regime type and is there a difference in the way democracies and dictatorships redistribute income? We can find three individual processes in democratization: democratization of the recruitment of the executive, the degree of independence of the executive authority, and the degree of political competition and opposition. The democratization of executive recruitment leads to a linear, negative effect on inequality, while the degree of political competition leads to a linear, positive effect on inequality. If a (post)communist country experiences an increase in the independence of executive authority, inequality increases to a lesser degree than for a non-communist country. Additionally, the level of inequality starts to fall sooner for a (post)communist country as compared with a non-communist country when the degree of independence increases. It is concluded that democracy not only leads to more inequality, it also leads to less redistribution
To what extent do the various measures of confidence affect the accuracy- confidence relationship in earwitnesses? A review of research on the earwitness testimony
No full textDespite inconsistent findings regarding a relation between accuracy and confidence, the use of confidence as a correlate of accuracy is a common subject in forensic psychology research. Therefore, in this review the existence of an accuracy-confidence relationship (A-C relationship) in earwitnesses is examined by considering several variables influencing earwitness memory. First, two different methods of assessing confidence are discussed, the discrimination method and the absolute accuracy method, indicating no differences between these two kinds of methods. Subsequently, confidence is discussed in relation to incorrect/correct decisions and target present/absent conditions. It appears that the mere behavioural act of making an identification (vs. rejecting identification) increases the individual’s perceived confidence, regardless whether this identification is correct or not. Finally, future directions for research based on the findings of this review are highlighted
What’s the problem with free will?
Get PDFThe debate about the existence of free will is often referred to as “the free will problem”. However, this essay intends to illustrate that “the free will problem” may not exist after all but that discussions about free will suffer from a multitude of problems. In particular, definitions and theories lack consensus about the nature of free will and are often too general. Support for arguments is often provided by citing neuroscientific studies despite the fact that these suffer from methodological limitations and allow multiple interpretations depending on the very definition of free will. Furthermore there is the risk of undermining the belief in moral responsibility in society by premature public discussions.“The” problem of free will is therefore, according to this essay, that inter- and intra-disciplinary teamwork in this debate is not optimal yet. It is concluded that a consensus on a definition about free will is a prerequisite for advances in this field of science.
Multidimensional Auctions and Scoring Rules
No full textAn auction is a mechanism to buy (sell) a product or service, where potential sellers (buyers) have to submit bids, which fully determine the winner of the auction and the price he or she has to pay (or receives). The main objective of this study is to determine what the maximum possible total welfare resulting from a multidimensional procurement auction can be in certain settings, to derive equilibria for first-score, second-score and second-preferred-offer auctions and to see under which conditions the maximum possible total welfare is obtained in these equilibria. Some of the results which will be obtained are that there exist ex-post equilibria as well as a dominant strategy equilibrium in second-score auctions, while there exist only ex-post equilibria in first-score and second-preferred-offer auctions and that the maximum possible total welfare is obtained in any ex-post equilibrium of a first-score auction in which the scoring rule equals the buyer\u27s true utility function.
Communautairy Problems: An Argumentative Analysis of the Belgian Political Crisis
Get PDFIn 2011, Belgium broke the world record for longest time without a government. 249 days had passed since the 2010 elections, and still the victorious parties – the New-Flemish Alliance (N-VA) and the Socialist Party (PS) – had not succeeded in the formation of a new government. This paper presents an argumentative analysis of the above political crisis. It seeks to clarify this crisis by means of mapping the most important arguments presented, so that the argumentative bottlenecks may be identified and analyzed. The arguments and claims examined in this paper are those of the N-VA; a nationalist Flemish party. The reason for focusing on the N-VA is that the political deadlock that can be identified as the cause for the relevant crisis stemmed from one of their party goals; namely to transfer authority from the federal government to the regions of Flanders and Wallonia, so effectively separating the two politically. By focusing on this argument, it is investigated what the different premises are and whether these are legitimate. Eventually, this culminates in a final judgment as to whether the N-VA’s argument is sound
Transparency – more than a buzzword?
Get PDFThe concept of transparency can be applied to nearly every domain of human activity. In each of these diverse domains transparency is thought to provide the public with information in order to make reasoned judgements: be it information about who to vote for, who to employ, which medications to take, or which Non Governmental Organization to support. If people are sufficiently informed, the argument goes, they are able to hold political officials accountable, find more competent staff, and even punish mismanagement and corruption. As Bessire (2005) puts it, “transparency is strongly related to information – and information is power” (p. 429). This line of reasoning ignores the fact that the availability of information is not the only aspect of accountability. If the public does not know what is happening behind closed doors, it naturally has no incentive – and indeed no chance – to hold somebody accountable necessary. As well as having access to relevant information, people must have measures at their disposal to punish responsible actors